Wolfgang Puschnig - Songs with Strings, Pt. 1 (2019)

Koehne Quartet, 75 percent Australian and 100 percent Austrian, is used to working with jazz saxophonists. Preferably, the four strings work together with Max Nagl, now it's Wolfgang Puschnig, who invited her, the singer Svitlana Varava and other guest musicians, to record "Songs with Strings Part 1" (Skylark). The album uses Far Eastern elements away from all world music clichés, uses classic jazz idiom only sparingly, with Puschnig proves to be an unpretentious leader who leaves the Koehne Quartet a lot of scope.

The bassist Gregor Aufmesser - also heard on 16 March at the appearance of the Max Nagl 5 in the Blue Tomato - also sets more value on Arranging art than on soloistic power-lapping - who knows how to use his septet Aufmessers Schneide, which is composed of four wind instruments and Rhythmgroup, very differentiated. Ecstatic melodic explosions are permitted on "Orbs" (jazz workshop) as well as winking Dixieland moments or elegiacly worn melodies. The compositions are complex and checked out, but still have a lot of groove.

The trio of Victoria Pfeil (ss, bs), Thatiana Gomes (b) and Tzu-Min Lee (p), who call themselves Victhamin for reasons that are not too hard to understand, also prove their own musical style. The recently released debut of the three young women from Steyr, Brazil and Taiwan may well be described as brilliant. Although all three musicians have contributed compositions, "Triangle" (Alessa) looks like a one-stop shop. Airy, light and transparent, it captivates as a cleverly conceived album through the (also here) unpretentious ensemble playing, which swings with sovereign nonchalance and comes along quite casually.